• Home
  • About Bo
  • Travels with Bo
    • Winchester, Normandy, Paris
    • Ireland 2018
    • Scottish to the Kilt
    • Colorful Barbados
    • Greetings from a Cold Climate
    • Scotland 2017
    • Polynesian Odyssey
    • From Stalin to Santorini
    • London Snaps
    • Quick Takes
    • Texas Treks
    • Summer in Scandinavia
    • Tunisia
    • Smaklig Måltid
    • Lake Vättern
    • Spring is coming to New York City
    • Stockholm Revisited
    • Take the 6 Train
  • Article Excerpts
  • Print Portfolio
  • Children's Books
  • Nonfiction Minutes
  • My Apps
  • Bo's Best Bets
  • Miscellaneous
    • Our Bedroom Window
    • My Life as an AD
    • The Turkish Scene
    • Snippets from Spain
    • England Revisited
    • First Stop: Tanzania
    • Shooting Vodka in Norway
    • A Swedish Primer
    • Color Clash
  • Contact Bo
Bo Zaunders Writer/Photographer
Connect!
A Polynesian Odyssey
Voyage to the Marquesas Islands    
    It began with two looooooong flights...
Picture
          NYC-LAX, 6 hours        
Picture
LAX-TAHITI, 8 hours
Picture
Then it was smooth sailing on the cruise freighter Aranui 3
– from Papeete to the atoll Fakarava in the Tuamotu archipelago

Picture
We are headed  for the Marquesas Islands, the most northerly archipelago in French Polynesia,
just south of the Equator, and farther away from  a continental landfall than any other group
of islands on earth - as far as you can get from so-called civilization.

Picture
The skyline of Ua Pou rose dramatically out of the South Pacific - rocky shores, lush green hills, and brooding volcanic pinnacles soaring into the sky.

Picture
Picture
In Hakahau, we got our first taste of tha Marquesas - bananas, papae dances, and beautiful clouds.

Picture
Historically a  sign of beauty, wealth and status, tattoos are still part of the Marquesan culture...  here a man from Nuku Hiva.
(It was on this, the largest of the islands, that in 1842, 23-year old Herman Melville jumped a whaling ship,  stayed for a few weeks with cannibals,
​and lived to write about it).

 
Picture
Picture
From Taiohae, the capital of the Marquesas, jeeps took us to the top of Mount Muake for a view of the Taiohae Bay. Pressing on, we sighted a couple of spectacular waterfalls
before arriving in Hatihu on the other side of the island.

Picture
In the shadow of this gigantic 400-year-old banyan tree, we found ourselves in the first of a number of  Marquesan ceremonial centers - with tiki statues and petroglyphs.

Picture
Lunch at Chez Yvonne, a local restaurant with an earth oven.
Men shoveled sand, removed stones, then peeled off banana wrappings, freeing a number of  well-seasoned pigs that had been roasting on red hot volcanic rocks for hours. Served with coconut milk, rice and breadfruit, the pork proved succulent.


Picture
Meae Lipna, a  famous archeaological site in the Marquesas, on the island of Hiva Oa.
Here's the 8-foot tall Takaii, the biggest chief/warrior of them all.


On Hiva Oa, we also saw the final resting place  of the French artist Paul Gauguin
- next to that of  the Belgian singer Jacques Brel.



Picture
Fatu Hiva, incredibly lush, is the island where Thor Heyerdahl, of Kontiki fame,
honeymooned with his bride Liv in 1937.

Picture
Picture
As usual, we were treated to flowers, music and dance.
Picture
Picture
Picture
In the village of Hannava, more music awaited, as well as two demonstrations:
   1. making a fragrant bouquet of flowers (rumored to be an aphrodisiac)
2. hammering the bark of a banyan tree into cloth.

Picture
And in Vaitahu, on the island of Tahuata, I found this little girl.
Picture
Aranui 3 was as much a freighter as it was a passenger ship;
a part of the experience was watching the tattooed native crew load and unload cargo.
​

Picture
Cargo ranged from prefab houses and heavy machinery to potato chips,
beer, and toilet paper.
Picture
Picture
On their way back to the ship's whaleboats,
crew members carried sacks of copra (dried coconut meat),
and even lady passengers - gaining a reputation as "gentle giants."


Picture
Picture
Mahalo, the most gentle and tattoed of them all, and Teatui, proud of his braided beard.

Picture
As for us passengers, life was a lot less strenuous.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Of course, for some of us there was the strain of figuring out what to buy...
Picture
deciding what to eat...
Picture
waiting for photo ops...watching manta rays...

Picture
waiting for photo ops...
Picture
...and being on deck when the sun rose or set.

Picture
Picture
On our way back to Tahiti we stopped for a while in Rangiroa.
Not a bad place for a glass of beer.

Main  Menu

Home
About Bo
Travels With Bo
Article Excerpts
Print Portfolio
Children's Books
My First App
Bo's Best Bets
Miscellaneous





Contact/Support

Contact Bo



© COPYRIGHT Bo Zaunders
2000-2022
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.